Crystal River current., 1887-04-16
THE PRAIRIE.

Toward its construction all terranean
forces tend. Land, like water seeks a
level. Looking seaward. we can per-
ceive the plain-making forces un-
mingled with complicating surround
ings. The Mississippis of earth are
pouring. as they have been for ages,
their freight OF soil into the waters as
if trying to rescue from the hold of
nature the submerged plateaus.
Though old ocean dashes back the gift
and still retains most of his captives.
yet progress is being made; and cities
stand to-day where once the finny
tribe had their throughfares. On land
the rugged mountain lifts its awful
form for a little while to the clouds,
but insiduously. steadily, surely; the
storms which itself attracts wash it
away. Rlls and rivers dashing down
its sides carry the detritus upon their
currents: and. in time, nature has ac-
complished her mission-has made of
the substance of the towering hill the
broad level prairie, needing only the
carpet of vegetation which she hastcns
to spread, to make it the choice ab.d-
ing place OF her highest form of life
mar
With many attractions does the COM
pleted. plain appeal to the mind of its
tenant; but most of all with its beauty.
The prairie is the embodiment of beau
t.. Poets for centuries have loved to
call it ''an earth-waved sea" and to
sing of its ''motionless bilows' and
''howery surf. and OF its beauty akin
to that of the ocean. and like the latter
has an element of sublimity due to the
wide range of vision and the well-nigh
perfect curve of the horizon rim.
Storms impress us more with their
grandeur and might when we can trace
them over many leagues Of their course.
and the sun seems more majestic
monarch when he throws long, trem-
bling rays across the prairie's level
disk than when cleaning among the
craggs and cliffs of some Alpine cliff.
Among the many specific beauties of
the prairie l know of none more de-
lightful than the mirage. 1t surpasses
that of the desert or ocean rs much as
the emerald plan which forms lis base.
eXccls in beauty the endless stretches of
sand or the gray waste of waters. 1t is
most glorious in spring when the lus-
trous green of the slightly undulating
prairie presents its sharpest contrast
sky. The ozone-laden air is rich with
sunlight; and II blushing haze rims the
scene ut the far horizon. If you are
fortunately situated, you may discern.
off to the westward, rearing its head
like an unprincipled spy above the cur
tain OF haze. the purple peak of some
mountain-a miserly giant who refuses
to give his wealth OF earth to the sur
rounding plain.
About mid-afternoon, when the gen
tie breeze which all day has rippled the
Young grass in soft-tinted curves of
green, has died away to a scarcely per-
ceptiblc breath, you are startled upon
looking to the southward to see the
haze marked by bars of blue. deeper in
color if possible than the cerulean
dome above you. These bars gather
into clusters and apparently approach
you. Then perspective opens through
the wall of haze and the clusters of bars
appear horizontal rather than vertical.
Suddenly you notice that they resemble
lakes OF clear water; and this concep-
tion once rece we'd. the vista opens
rapidly.
Trees, wharves, and bluffs rise
along the banks of your fairy sea.
The branches of the trees bend and
sway and the waters roll and toss with
the hea. undulations of he atmosphere,
as if moved by Il strong lake breeze.
Darker images soon are seen which
you take to be houses and are perhaps
the reelection of n hamlet many miles
away. Usually the forms are so multi
piled and magnitied and the p cture so
distorted that you are almost ready to
believe that city lies just before you.
In the middle distance one palace-like
form oyprtops its falln,vs WipJnvy-
and spires, turrets and roofs shine
with golden light; so fair Il structure
has not been seen since The DAYS OF
Aladdin Natural objects such as
mimic headlands or the falls of some
prairie stream may be,suspenled in mid
air. The wizard reflect on has made n
new world of the one just beyond your
sight and shows it to you by his won
derful conjuring powers.
But the picture does not last The
highest toweras of the palace begin to
topplc, and give way to The equal-tint-
ed haze; the lower stories follow, the
trees become less dark, the perspect-
i've is lost and the vision has melted
into thin air like "the bascless fab
ric of dream" The breeze springs
to life again, the sun has drfted furth-
er toward his nightly anchorage, and
the prairie is once more wide stretch
of unbroken sod.
Since the birth of our first parents the
beauty, the vastness, and promises of
the prairie must have deeply influenced
mankind Before the steamhorse
taught contempt for distance, the
prarie's broad expanse must have in
stilled a feeling of awe into the thoughts
of man.
While the facilities for agriculture.
or grazing which it offered, attracted
him to its possibilities as IL factor in
civilization. Modern sociologists teach
us that the naked plains of America
have been the safety-valve of ofsoc;etv for